This Nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on patent Application No. 2003-060083 filed in Japan on Mar. 6, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention pertains to a semiconductor device that may be used for sensors and/or for data communications which make use of light, and to a manufacturing method for same. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a semiconductor device that may be used in an infrared communication device, and to a manufacturing method for same.
Referring to FIG. 7, a manufacturing method for a conventional semiconductor device, e.g., an infrared communication device, will be described.
First, substrate 101 is prepared, a plurality of fields containing patterned wiring, not shown, being formed horizontally and vertically thereon; light emitting diode chips, photodiode chips, IC chips, and/or other such semiconductor chips, not shown, are incorporated into the respective patterned wiring fields of substrate 101, being mounted thereon by means of die bonding, wire bonding, and/or the like; and by thereafter using resin to mold the entirety of each together with a light-emitting lens portion and a light-receiving lens portion, a plurality of semiconductor device blocks (semiconductor device units) A, A, . . . are formed horizontally and vertically. Such state of affairs is shown in FIG. 7, the lines shown as dashed lines in the drawing being horizontal and vertical dicing lines. A drill or the like is thereafter used to form circular through-holes 102, 102, . . . in parallel fashion with respect to the vertical dicing lines, at locations for forming terminals at respective semiconductor device blocks A, A, . . . ; copper plating is applied to the inside circumferential surfaces of these through-holes 102, 102, . . . ; and the substrate is then cut vertically and horizontally along the dicing lines. As a result, a semiconductor device of shape as shown in FIG. 8 is formed.
FIG. 8(a) is a plan view of an infrared communication device as viewed from above. FIG. 8(b) is an oblique view of the bottom of an infrared communication device as viewed from the back. Note that, at FIG. 8(a), reference numeral 103 is the molded resin portion, reference numeral 104 is the light-emitting lens portion, and reference numeral 105 is the light-receiving lens portion.
Furthermore, FIG. 9 shows a situation in which shield case 107 is attached by way of adhesive 106 to the top face 101a of substrate 101 of the infrared communication device constituted as described above. Note, however, that FIG. 9 is drawn such that it is possible to see through shield case 107 attached thereto and view the features therebelow.
Infrared communication devices (hereinafter referred to simply as “device(s)”) of such construction may be used in a wide variety of applications—e.g., personal computers, PDAs, and printers—in optical and/or wireless communication fields where data communication is involved. However, regardless of the product in question, the device is never used on its own, infrared communication instead being but one function which is always incorporated into some apparatus or the other. That is, because the infrared communication device is installed within an apparatus, the problem has existed that communications carried out by the device can be affected by interference due to electromagnetic noise which is generated by the apparatus itself and/or electromagnetic noise from the exterior (e.g., mobile telephones, household appliances, and other such products which generate electromagnetic waves, and so forth). For increasing ability to withstand such electromagnetic noise, conventional strategies have therefore increased resistance to electromagnetic noise by shielding the device as a result of enclosing same within a shield case (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2001-127310) or by adding electromagnetic-noise-resisting circuitry to the IC circuitry.
Furthermore, as customers demand smaller sizes and lower profiles in media requiring infrared communication (primarily personal computers, PDAs, and other such information terminal equipment and so forth), decreases in device size have necessitated strategies such as elimination of the shield case and reduction in terminal surface area through reduced terminal pitch, despite the fact that the environment with respect to electromagnetic noise within the media is more stringent than was the case conventionally.
Thus, the trend toward reduced infrared communication device size has in fact caused decreased resistance to electromagnetic noise as result of elimination of the shield case despite the fact that there is more need than was the case conventionally to increase resistance to electromagnetic noise, resulting in abnormal operation of the device and preventing reliable communication. Especially with the recent increases in data communication speeds, the effects of noise can no longer be ignored.
Furthermore, whereas the presence of the shield case had conventionally provided some basis for acceptable antinoise characteristics, the recent proliferation of mobile telephones has brought a further steady worsening of the environment with respect to electromagnetic noise, to the point where the mere inclusion of a shield case can no longer be considered to be a completely acceptable strategy. Furthermore, where a shield case had been provided, in the device disclosed at the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2001-127310—like the infrared communication device shown in FIG. 9—the shield case was merely attached by adhesive to the device, the absence of any provision for establishing electrical continuity with the device necessitating that terminal(s) be provided for connecting to ground. And this has resulted in the problem that it has caused the device itself to increase in size.
Furthermore, with respect to the other strategy for dealing with electromagnetic noise, i.e., adoption of a constitution in which electromagnetic-noise-resisting circuitry is added to the IC circuitry, because this causes considerable increase in the number of circuit elements as well as increased IC chip surface area, the concomitant increase in cost and increase in device dimensions have been problems.
Moreover, with respect to the increased mounting strength required to mount the device terminal portion to the apparatus circuit board, the diameter of terminal through-holes 102 formed at substrate 101, as shown in FIG. 8(b), has conventionally been made small, increasing the surface area available for adhesion by solder. But decreased diameter at through-holes 102 has placed demands on dicing precision, such that in practice any displacement and/or stresses resulting therefrom has caused disappearance of terminals and/or peeling of copper foil from the end face thereof, resulting in defective product and leading to increases in cost due to lowered yield.
The present invention was conceived in order to solve such problems; an embodiment of the present invention provides a semiconductor device permitting improved performance with respect to electromagnetic noise while at the same time accommodating reduction in device size as well as profile, and a manufacturing method for same.